Abstract [en]

During the years 1801 to 1920 the Swedish society underwent major political and social changes that in different ways paved the way to a more democratic and civilized manner. According to Norbert Elias’ theory of civilization these changes ought to have led to that the suicide ratio increased. The main purpose of this essay is therefor to study whether or not this was the case in the cities of Karlstad, Eda, Mjölby and Linköping.

This examination has shown that both the absolute and relative suicide numbers are higher during the second half of the study. Although the situation in Linköping differed somewhat from the other three societies because the highest suicide number (the numbers of suicide registred per 100 000 citizens) there reached it’s highest level already during the years 1821/1840.

Furthermore this study has shown that men were not only more likely to commit suicide, they were also generally older than the women. Seven out of ten suicides were committed by men and they were usually between 45 and 54 years old by the time of their deaths. A relative majority of the women in this study died before the age of 25. Most of the men were married and belonged to the working class, whilst most of the women were unmarried and didn’t have a paying occupation.

It has also become evident that the men generally preferred to hang themselves, but the method most commonly used by women was drowning. I’ve also found some local differences when it comes to the time of death. A majority of both the men and the women in the four cities during the examined period committed suicide during the spring or the summer. However a vast majority of the women in Linköping took their lives between October and December.